Resa’s Pieces

September 3, 2023

”That brain of mine is something more than merely mortal; as time will show.”

If you thought that quotations was from Elon Musk, I fooled you. It comes from Ada Lovelace, born in 1815. She made it possible for Elon to achieve many of his accomplishments and also for the rest of us to write emails, goggle, and generally, waste a lot of time.

She was born Ada Byron. That name should sound familiar to you if you ever studies English literature in your educational development. She was Lord Byron’s only legitimate child. As a Romantic poet, he lived up to that description and had his other offspring out of wedlock.

When she was born, Lord Byron left England to travel with Percy and Mary Shelley across Europe. While at Lake Como in Italy the party started telling ghost stories to pass a rainy day. Mary’s ghost story eventually became the novel Frankenstein. You can see that Byron had quite an effect on women for good or ill.

Ada’s mother encouraged her daughter’s interest in mathematics for which she had a talent. At 18 Ada started working with the mathematician Charles Babbage who has become known as the “father of computers.” Isn’t that the way it always goes?

It was Ada’s “Notes” that allowed her to come up with the algorithm for a machine to do mathematics. Please remember I am a retired English teacher so I’m not certain how that works. Just know she receives credit for writing the first computer program. So, in her honor, every time you order something from Amazon say, “Thanks, Ada!”

She did worry how this “Analytical Engine” would affect the individual and society. She believed intuition and imagine action were critical. That’s were the “Me” of this piece comes in.

The first electronic device I remember was our family’s black and white television. There were only two channels. They featured news and weather programs in the morning and “Captain Kangaroo” for children. More news and weather came at noon. Then nothing but a test pattern of an American Indian until four in the afternoon. Then, you guess it, more news and weather. Not much has changed has it? Evening entertainment consisted of quiz and variety programs. Time passed and my family owned a color TV because my dad had to see “Bonanza” in all its glory.

I didn’t even own my first computer. It was a trunk sized contraption shared by six members of the English Department wheeled from one office to the next. I had to make due first with a manual Corona typewriter and then an electronic IBM to write my magazine pieces, books and yes, my dissertation!

I’ve gone through a number of iPads, laptops and phones. Thank you to all of those who have contributed computer knowledge and the blessing, and sometime curse, to our quality of life.

If you live in a rural area, internet access can be challenging. I’ve relied on a satellite TV with first a huge dish in my yard that looked like it could contact Mars. Over time the satellite dishes got smaller which was fine for TV watching.

A handheld internet provider from Verizon was needed to do the important things in life—search the internet for emailing, googling and binge watching TV series like “Ozark.”

It satisfied for a while. Yet, I lusted for internet always covering my home.

Elon came to the rescue with his SpaceX series of internet satellite dishes. Elon loves the letter X. There is X.com, SpaceX, the Tesla Model X and that cute blue bird is now X.

Thanks Ada and thanks Elon. I can now stream if I so desired, endless reruns of “Big Bang Theory.” Oh, and yes, gives the opportunity to reach beyond my books to air my thoughts to a wider audience with this blog, all tens of dozens of you!